I have a laptop that I would like to use to watch TV in my room. I have it plugged into an NEC LCD1515. I've been looking around but don't see any TV tuner cards for laptops. Do they even exist? Or is there a way to plug the TV cable line to the LCD directly?

stephen2002

11-30-2003, 02:20 AM

External USB tuners usually work well.

If you can find a PCMCIA TV Tuner they are usually rather expensive. Most have been discontinued.

Sieb

11-30-2003, 06:18 AM

I use this with my laptop..

http://www.hauppauge.com/html/usb_data.htm

JDex

11-30-2003, 06:49 AM

I have been looking at this one for a bit... but it is unclear whether it actually has a tv antenna built in, does it sieb?

Also does the audio have to be run via cable to the sound card, or does it also go thru the USB?

singularity2006

11-30-2003, 06:50 AM

oooh nice! Sieb, that's cool looking! But here's the other thing. I'm using a pretty low end laptop. It's so low end I've converted it into a desktop. The battery no longer holds a charge, I have a max res of 800 x 600 (I'm on 1024x768 by plugging into my NEC LCD). I have it shoved under the desk where no one can see it. In anycase, it's a Fujitsu C series Life Book. I don't remember the model number but it's only running a K6-2 @ 450MHz w/ 192MB of RAM. From the site, it says those specs should work fine. However, what are your experiences with this product with lower performance computers?

And just to add, I've looked at a couple others on newegg (I have some budget constraint issues). Anyone use this one before?:

Most, if not all, TV Tuners carry the audio directly to the sound card through an audio cable. The one that Sieb mentioned does this as well and also has an option to carry audio over USB probably at a degredation of audio and video quaity.

I have not yet seen a PC TV-Tuner with a built-in antenna. They will have a 75-ohm coax jack so that you can hook up your own antenna.

singularity2006: You should be OK with the specs on your laptop.

singularity2006

11-30-2003, 05:21 PM

Thanks Stephen. I'll be swinging by Fry's today to take a look @ it. I'm in no rush to buy though. Just spent a few Benjamins on a new LCD. =D And sadly, my table, which I use my laptop on (is poorly situated, which means I'd have to run the cable line quite a ways to the other wall where the cable outlet is.... hmmm.. but when I figure something out, yeah, TV! I'll definitely keep an eye out though.

Oh yeah, on a totally diff note I did buy that aluminum keyboard! It feels great but the arrow keys and the shift key on the right side is kind of in an awkward position. I've made many more typos than usual since I do more code than regular typing on that system. However, in the least, that's a freaking nice keyboard!! It feels just like a laptop (and I have all the IT guys jealous like crazy too. ^.^ )

Sieb

11-30-2003, 05:23 PM

Coax Cable/Antena input (not built in), Audio in/out, S-video out (with Composit converter dongle). Its a pretty low end tuner, not as good as the WinTV250 I had or the AIW9800 I have now. But decent enough to watch tv on with my laptop. I don't care much for their software, but it gets the job done. Sound can run either over USB or Audio out to Line in on your pc.

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